Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Obelisks

  • Printy Obelisk, Calvary Cemetery

    A tall obelisk with the oblique cross that often Christianizes obelisks in Catholic cemeteries.

  • Moses M. Henry Monument, St. Clair Cemetery

    The dates on this fine marble shaft are hard to read, but Father Pitt reads them as 1831-1857. The style is of the 1850s, so the death date seems appropriate.

  • Ott Obelisk, St. John Vianney Parish Cemetery

    A magnificently shrouded obelisk. The cross on the side makes it a Christian monument; one rarely sees an obelisk without a cross in a Catholic cemetery. The abundance of drapery makes one feel as though there would be something improper about an unclothed obelisk.

  • Joesphine Ormsby Yard Obelisk, Allegheny Cemetery

    A fairly early obelisk whose inscription is still perfectly clear. There was a very prominent Ormsby family after whom the borough of Ormsby was named; it is now the section of the South Side Flats east of 24th Street. Father Pitt does not know whether this Josephine was a member of that family. She must have died fairly young; her husband was buried beside her in 1889, suggesting that he never remarried for the remaining thirty-six years of his life.

  • Bonshire Obelisk, South Side Cemetery

    There is nothing exceptional about this obelisk, except that it is a well-preserved example of a tasteful marble monument of the 1870s. Unlike many marble monuments, it still shows clear details and a legible inscription.